Watch Your Walk! (Colossians 2:6-10)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.520 --> 00:00:05.400 Like you to turn in your bibles to Colossians too. I'll be our sermon 2 00:00:05.519 --> 00:00:15.509 text this evening. Glossoms, Chapter Two, verses six through ten. Looshoms 3 00:00:15.589 --> 00:00:24.140 two, six through ten. Here the word from your faithful God. Therefore, 4 00:00:25.219 --> 00:00:29.379 as you received Christ, Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, 5 00:00:30.100 --> 00:00:34.700 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you 6 00:00:34.740 --> 00:00:40.130 were taught, abounding in Thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you 7 00:00:40.369 --> 00:00:46.530 captive by philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the elemental 8 00:00:46.689 --> 00:00:52.280 spirits of the world and not according to Christ, for in him the whole 9 00:00:52.399 --> 00:00:57.240 fullness of Deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who 10 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:02.039 is ahead of all rule and authority, a man. You may be seated. 11 00:01:07.629 --> 00:01:15.790 Don't wander off. If you've if your parent, even if you're not 12 00:01:15.790 --> 00:01:21.099 a parent, if you've done anything at all with children, you've probably said 13 00:01:21.140 --> 00:01:26.219 this a number of times. Don't wander off. If you think back over 14 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:30.620 your life when you were younger, you probably heard this a number of times 15 00:01:30.659 --> 00:01:38.049 yourself, to maybe from parents in the supermarket. Now, don't wander off, 16 00:01:38.170 --> 00:01:41.489 stay by me, stay by the cart, don't go grabbing things. 17 00:01:42.769 --> 00:01:49.799 I experienced this often. Don't don't wander off, stay right here and maybe 18 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:53.640 when you're a little bit older you heard again from your parents in different context. 19 00:01:55.200 --> 00:01:59.680 Come home straight after school, you know. Don't go to the corner 20 00:01:59.799 --> 00:02:05.150 store, don't go to your friends house. Come straight home after school. 21 00:02:05.590 --> 00:02:13.949 Don't wander off. Well, just like a good parent, Paul here is 22 00:02:14.069 --> 00:02:19.060 concerned for the Christians at Colossa in the same way. He's concerned that they're 23 00:02:19.099 --> 00:02:23.020 going to wander off, but not from himself, that they're going to wander 24 00:02:23.060 --> 00:02:27.699 away from Christ because up to this point in the book of Colossians, and 25 00:02:27.740 --> 00:02:31.490 I realize I sort of brought you into the middle of an argument that Paul 26 00:02:31.530 --> 00:02:36.409 is making, but up to this point in the book of Colossians, Paul 27 00:02:36.449 --> 00:02:44.169 has really been explaining to the Colossians The majesty and supremacy and authority of Jesus, 28 00:02:44.599 --> 00:02:47.800 that in him you have everything you need for life and godliness. If 29 00:02:47.840 --> 00:02:52.120 you go back to Colossians chapter one, you can see this. He is 30 00:02:52.240 --> 00:02:58.080 the firstborn of all creation. In him everything was made. In Him, 31 00:02:58.360 --> 00:03:06.069 God is reconciling to himself the world through Christ. There is this magnificence displayed 32 00:03:06.270 --> 00:03:12.590 of the splendor and majesty of WHO Jesus is. But here in our passage 33 00:03:13.020 --> 00:03:16.620 that we read tonight, we learn that there is a very attractive message that 34 00:03:16.699 --> 00:03:23.099 the Colossians are hearing and it's threatening to pull them away, to pull them 35 00:03:23.139 --> 00:03:29.569 away from Christ, from following after him, and this is that message here. 36 00:03:30.969 --> 00:03:35.250 If you want to be a first class Christian, if you truly want 37 00:03:35.289 --> 00:03:39.569 to experience God, if you truly want to know that God is with you 38 00:03:39.930 --> 00:03:45.639 and that God loves you, there's a couple things you got to do. 39 00:03:46.680 --> 00:03:51.800 There's a special level of knowledge that you need to have, some deep knowledge, 40 00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:55.030 some secret knowledge, not something that everyone knows. You have this special 41 00:03:55.110 --> 00:04:00.030 level of knowledge and what's more, there's a checklist of things that you need 42 00:04:00.110 --> 00:04:06.469 to do if you really want to be a truly spiritual Christian. You can 43 00:04:06.830 --> 00:04:10.659 look on a little bit later in Classians too, and you can see some 44 00:04:10.780 --> 00:04:16.300 of those things that he talks about there. But Paul is worried because he's 45 00:04:16.300 --> 00:04:23.259 afraid that these Christians are starting to wander. So Paul is writing to the 46 00:04:23.339 --> 00:04:28.649 Colossians and to us to here tonight, almost two thousand years later, to 47 00:04:28.889 --> 00:04:35.850 watch our walk, to stay the course, to faithfully follow Jesus Christ, 48 00:04:35.970 --> 00:04:41.240 and Paul says it best at the beginning of verse six. As you received 49 00:04:41.439 --> 00:04:46.560 Christ, keep walking in him. That's our main point this evening, and 50 00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:53.149 Paul fleshes that out by describing three things, and these verses here. First 51 00:04:53.550 --> 00:04:58.589 he tells us the secret of the Christian Life and secondly, he tells us 52 00:04:58.589 --> 00:05:03.509 about the Seductiveness of false teaching and thirdly, the superiority of Christ. So 53 00:05:03.670 --> 00:05:06.579 first, the secret of the Christian life. Look again with me at versus 54 00:05:06.579 --> 00:05:13.300 six and seven. Therefore, as you received Christ, Jesus the Lord, 55 00:05:13.699 --> 00:05:17.379 so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the 56 00:05:17.500 --> 00:05:24.490 faith, just as you were taught abounding in Thanksgiving. So the classes have 57 00:05:24.529 --> 00:05:28.490 been hearing that they needed some kind of secret knowledge to be genuine Christians, 58 00:05:28.610 --> 00:05:34.009 real Christians, these first class Christians. But here it's as if Paul is 59 00:05:34.250 --> 00:05:40.160 saying you, you want to know that the secret of true connectedness to God? 60 00:05:40.920 --> 00:05:45.759 Do you want to know what it's really like, the the secret path, 61 00:05:45.920 --> 00:05:49.589 the secret course, if you will, to having deep and intimate communion 62 00:05:49.750 --> 00:05:51.750 with God? You know, you want to know what that's all about. 63 00:05:54.069 --> 00:06:00.910 It's just as you received Christ, walk in him, continue in him. 64 00:06:01.269 --> 00:06:05.620 He's saying the secret of the Christian life is that there is no secret. 65 00:06:06.220 --> 00:06:12.939 There's there's nothing more necessarily to it. He elaborates on what that means then 66 00:06:13.379 --> 00:06:15.139 in the we're going to get set in just a minute, but saying that 67 00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:23.730 there is no secret to the Christian life, continuing what you've received and that 68 00:06:23.810 --> 00:06:28.850 word received there, that word has the idea of accepting as true the things 69 00:06:28.889 --> 00:06:33.199 we've been taught, the traditions that we have bit received from our forbears in 70 00:06:33.319 --> 00:06:38.360 the faith. The COLOSSIANS had received it from, as we learned in Colossians. 71 00:06:38.480 --> 00:06:42.399 One, from epaphus, a friend of Paul, who had brought the 72 00:06:42.519 --> 00:06:46.310 Gospel to the church at Colossa and had evangelized there. And now they've heard 73 00:06:46.389 --> 00:06:50.629 the truth of the Gospel. This, these truths, the doctrines of the 74 00:06:50.670 --> 00:06:57.629 Christian faith, from Paul in Colossians. One, that Jesus is God incarnate, 75 00:06:57.990 --> 00:07:01.939 the eternal son of God who created all things and yet became a man 76 00:07:03.379 --> 00:07:08.980 who went to the cross so that we might be reconciled to God. This 77 00:07:09.019 --> 00:07:14.379 is the heart of the Gospel, this is the truth of the Christian faith, 78 00:07:14.939 --> 00:07:18.329 this is the good news of how sinners can be declared right before God. 79 00:07:19.050 --> 00:07:26.529 And now Paul says cling to this good news, don't let go. 80 00:07:27.769 --> 00:07:31.680 You can picture yourself hanging on for dear life to the edge of a cliff 81 00:07:31.959 --> 00:07:40.399 and Paul is there above you saying don't let go. It's deadly if you 82 00:07:40.480 --> 00:07:46.389 do. Continue in what you've received, because it's in this way that you 83 00:07:46.550 --> 00:07:51.149 not only first became a Christian, but it's in this way, the same 84 00:07:51.750 --> 00:07:57.750 truth of the Gospel that through that, that you then live as a Christian 85 00:07:57.790 --> 00:08:03.060 in your day to day life. See, living as a Christian consists in 86 00:08:03.420 --> 00:08:11.860 fundamentally trusting in Jesus, day by day, hour by hour, in every 87 00:08:11.980 --> 00:08:18.610 situation, going back again and again and again to the Gospel each and every 88 00:08:18.649 --> 00:08:22.930 day. I think about it this way. This is going to tie in 89 00:08:24.009 --> 00:08:31.759 later. Think about the ABC's. Okay, the alphabets basic building blocks of 90 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:35.240 the English language. You need a master this in order to really move on 91 00:08:35.720 --> 00:08:41.590 to the next level. Think about how a child mature is they learn their 92 00:08:41.629 --> 00:08:48.389 ABC's and then you can basically make combinations of letters and form words. You 93 00:08:48.629 --> 00:08:54.230 then string those words together to form sentences and paragraphs and stories and even even 94 00:08:54.899 --> 00:09:01.980 if you're inclining to it poetry with rhyme and meter and complexity, but you 95 00:09:03.179 --> 00:09:09.340 never even at that stage. You never get beyond the ABC's. It's just 96 00:09:09.419 --> 00:09:16.090 different combinations of the same basic building blocks, the same basic letters, and 97 00:09:16.169 --> 00:09:22.250 it's the same way with a Christian life. So Paul is getting out here 98 00:09:22.129 --> 00:09:31.000 that the Gospel is the building blocks, those basic elements of the Christian life. 99 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:37.320 And basically, as we grow, as we mature in our faith, 100 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:41.789 what we are doing is we are learning to apply the Gospel in different ways 101 00:09:41.830 --> 00:09:48.669 to different situations, different circumstances. We never get beyond our need for Christ 102 00:09:50.789 --> 00:09:56.940 and our need for the Gospel. We Christian maturity is becoming more literate in 103 00:09:58.100 --> 00:10:03.139 our understanding of the content of the Christian faith, more fluent, if you 104 00:10:03.259 --> 00:10:07.889 will, in speaking the language of the Gospel to ourselves each and every day 105 00:10:07.970 --> 00:10:13.409 and to others as well. It's becoming more competent in applying the work of 106 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:18.330 Christ to our lives. And so as we walk day by day and our 107 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:24.519 by our holding fast to Christ, holding fast to the truth of the Gospel, 108 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:30.679 we grow into the fullness of Christ, we grow into full spiritual maturity. 109 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:33.919 There is no secret to the Christian life. And Paul backs us up 110 00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:39.789 in verse seven, where he emphasizes the work of God in bringing us to 111 00:10:41.070 --> 00:10:45.509 completion, bringing us to this full maturity here and and he does us by 112 00:10:45.549 --> 00:10:50.860 listing four actions here, the first three of which are passive. In other 113 00:10:50.899 --> 00:10:54.059 ways, they're not things that we do, they're actually things that are done 114 00:10:54.259 --> 00:10:58.179 to us. So First Paul says we've been rooted in Christ. God Has 115 00:10:58.259 --> 00:11:03.330 United us to Christ by the Holy Spirit, and so it's as if we 116 00:11:03.409 --> 00:11:07.649 are a tree with deep roots, sunk deep into the ground so that when 117 00:11:07.690 --> 00:11:13.929 the winds blow and how we won't be swayed or broken off. We're rooted 118 00:11:15.049 --> 00:11:20.200 deeply. Now Paul says in Ephesians, for verse fourteen, that because we've 119 00:11:20.200 --> 00:11:24.639 been rooted in Christ, we won't be blown about by every wind of doctrine. 120 00:11:24.720 --> 00:11:31.320 When we hear the false when we hear something that just doesn't head up, 121 00:11:31.399 --> 00:11:33.230 doesn't sound quite right. You probably had the experience before. You hear 122 00:11:33.389 --> 00:11:37.990 something it's like, Hmm, I don't know if that's quite right. That's 123 00:11:39.230 --> 00:11:43.750 that's the spirit working in you. Because you are rooted in Christ, you 124 00:11:43.870 --> 00:11:48.220 can recognize false teaching when you hear it. And then, secondly, Paul 125 00:11:48.220 --> 00:11:54.460 goes on and says that we are being built up or constructed in Christ and 126 00:11:54.580 --> 00:11:58.019 the idea that Chrisins are like a building. And as Paul says in the 127 00:11:58.019 --> 00:12:01.889 Phesians to twenty, we are founded on the teaching of the Apostles, in 128 00:12:01.929 --> 00:12:07.490 the prophets, that the teaching of the faith, the truths of the Gospel, 129 00:12:07.250 --> 00:12:13.009 and as we rest on this foundation we are built up. God is 130 00:12:13.090 --> 00:12:18.120 like this master worker building us, heading out a wing here, raising US 131 00:12:18.240 --> 00:12:24.240 taller there, until the building is complete. That will happen, of course, 132 00:12:24.279 --> 00:12:28.559 when Christ returns on that last day, but we will be complete and 133 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:33.629 mature, lacking nothing, growing as taller and taller into completion. And by 134 00:12:33.669 --> 00:12:39.070 being rooted in Christ and built up in Christ, then we're also established in 135 00:12:39.149 --> 00:12:43.149 the faith. And Paul is borrowing from the language here of the court room. 136 00:12:45.700 --> 00:12:52.299 He saying that what we believe is confirmed, verified, as true, 137 00:12:52.379 --> 00:12:58.409 as trustworthy, as reliable, something you can put your life upon and depend 138 00:12:58.970 --> 00:13:07.370 upon. And this happens as we see the truth of the Christian faith borne 139 00:13:07.490 --> 00:13:16.120 out in our personal experience. Because it's one thing to confess the faith when 140 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:24.360 you're in a nice, comfortable sanctuary on a Sunday but it's another thing to 141 00:13:24.600 --> 00:13:30.190 confess the faith when your life is falling apart and when you are dealing with 142 00:13:30.389 --> 00:13:35.909 tragedy in your personal life, maybe financial, maybe it's relational, maybe a 143 00:13:35.070 --> 00:13:43.820 spouse just passed away. That's when it's difficult, that's when it's hard, 144 00:13:45.779 --> 00:13:50.659 that's when it at the same time, that's when it means everything, because 145 00:13:50.700 --> 00:13:56.649 as we cling to Christ even in the midst of difficult circumstances, even when 146 00:13:56.690 --> 00:14:01.250 we cry out to him and say, I don't know why this is happening 147 00:14:01.330 --> 00:14:07.090 to me, I don't know why I'm going through this, it's then that 148 00:14:07.370 --> 00:14:15.759 we see the goodness and the grace of Jesus in vibrant color. It's then 149 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:20.519 that we hear him through his word, through hymns that we saying, through 150 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:26.789 our prayers. We see that he is true to his word, that he 151 00:14:26.950 --> 00:14:31.070 is a faithful savior, that he is not just there on Sundays, but 152 00:14:31.309 --> 00:14:37.350 every day with us, for us, giving US grace to face every trial 153 00:14:37.429 --> 00:14:45.500 and every difficulty. And that's why, if you talk to and a mature 154 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:48.539 Christian, experienced Christian, when those wise, older, Godly Christians and you 155 00:14:48.620 --> 00:14:54.210 ask them when they grew the most, they'll tell you. It wasn't during 156 00:14:54.250 --> 00:14:58.970 those pleasant and easy seasons of life, it was during the hard times, 157 00:15:01.210 --> 00:15:07.759 because it was then that their faith was established in Christ, as they saw 158 00:15:07.840 --> 00:15:16.200 him as trustworthy and reliable. And the result of these things, of being 159 00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:22.549 you rooted in Christ, of being built up in him, of having our 160 00:15:22.590 --> 00:15:28.110 faith established in him, as we see his trustworthiness in the hard seasons of 161 00:15:28.230 --> 00:15:33.909 life, it's then that we respond in Thanksgiving. As a result of all 162 00:15:33.950 --> 00:15:41.220 these things, the Christian life's life of thankfulness. It's a life of praise 163 00:15:41.340 --> 00:15:46.379 to God from whom all blessings flow. We realize that we don't deserve any 164 00:15:46.419 --> 00:15:50.490 of us, any of his goodness. Yeah, he's lavished it upon us 165 00:15:50.529 --> 00:15:58.090 and poured it out upon us, and so we praise him for working graciously 166 00:15:58.649 --> 00:16:03.879 in US every day of our lives and realizing that one day, when this 167 00:16:04.120 --> 00:16:08.399 life is or one day this will be complete, and we will stand before 168 00:16:08.440 --> 00:16:15.399 him, mature fully in the likeness of Christ, clothed with those robes of 169 00:16:15.480 --> 00:16:22.950 righteousness, clean and pure before him. This is the path that is set 170 00:16:22.990 --> 00:16:26.830 before us. This is the truth of the Gospel from which we must not 171 00:16:26.669 --> 00:16:32.830 wander, and that's why Paul moves on in verse A to discuss the Seductiveness 172 00:16:33.500 --> 00:16:36.620 of false teaching, says our second point. Look again at verse eight with 173 00:16:36.700 --> 00:16:41.659 me. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty 174 00:16:41.779 --> 00:16:47.370 deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, 175 00:16:47.809 --> 00:16:52.129 and not according to Christ's Paul starts with a warning here. Says, 176 00:16:52.929 --> 00:16:57.610 see to it, beware, watch out. The idea is that if we're 177 00:16:57.690 --> 00:17:04.400 not careful, this danger is sneaking up on us and we're not going to 178 00:17:04.519 --> 00:17:08.599 notice it. It's it's a little bit like a horror movie. You know 179 00:17:08.799 --> 00:17:15.349 there's something there in the darkness, something lurking just off the path. And 180 00:17:15.470 --> 00:17:18.950 what is that danger? Well, he goes on. He says it's going 181 00:17:18.029 --> 00:17:25.109 to take us captive, and it's this vivid image. It's it has the 182 00:17:25.230 --> 00:17:30.980 idea of being kidnapped and taken as a slave. But our captor, Paul 183 00:17:32.019 --> 00:17:34.380 says, is a strange one. Can See what he says. Paul says 184 00:17:34.380 --> 00:17:40.700 if we stray from the truth, will be taken captive by philosophy and empty 185 00:17:41.339 --> 00:17:48.769 deceit. What's Paul talking about here? He's not talking about education or the 186 00:17:48.890 --> 00:17:52.690 academic discipline of philosophy. That's not what he's talking about. Actually, Paul 187 00:17:52.690 --> 00:17:57.210 goes on and tells US exactly what he's talking about and explaining it when he 188 00:17:57.329 --> 00:18:03.960 says that this philosophy and empty deceit is according to human tradition, according to 189 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:11.000 the elemental spirits of the world. We know what human traditions are. Jesus 190 00:18:11.319 --> 00:18:15.470 condemns them in mark seven when he condemned the traditions of the Pharisees. There 191 00:18:15.509 --> 00:18:23.150 these manmade customs and traditions, practices, habits that we think are somehow going 192 00:18:23.269 --> 00:18:27.579 to earn a something with God, somehow they're going to give us access to 193 00:18:27.819 --> 00:18:33.299 God as we keep them and they'll give it bring us closer to God. 194 00:18:33.380 --> 00:18:37.779 But as for these elemental spirits of the world, I prefer what's in your 195 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:42.009 footnote, if you have the English Standard version. It's also the way the 196 00:18:42.130 --> 00:18:47.569 King James, the N IV and the new American standard translated. They say 197 00:18:47.730 --> 00:18:53.529 according to the basic principles or the elementary principles of the world. There's there's 198 00:18:53.569 --> 00:19:00.599 this idea of going back to the basics again, thinking of like letters of 199 00:19:00.759 --> 00:19:07.400 the alphabet or elements in the periodic table. The word in the Greek actually 200 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:15.589 is the word from which we get stoichiometry, thinking about chemistry and such again, 201 00:19:15.670 --> 00:19:18.470 the elements of the periodic table. You could think of it this way. 202 00:19:18.549 --> 00:19:25.619 Over, against the Gospel, the Abes, these of the Christian faith, 203 00:19:26.539 --> 00:19:33.180 there's another alphabet, another basic way, another fundamental way by which the 204 00:19:33.380 --> 00:19:38.490 world tries to relate to God, these two fundamental ways. And what is 205 00:19:38.569 --> 00:19:44.730 this way, according to human tradition, according to the elementary principles of the 206 00:19:44.809 --> 00:19:52.880 world? Well, it's according to works, according to the flesh, Paul 207 00:19:52.920 --> 00:19:56.599 says. It's this idea that somehow, whether by doing enough good deeds or 208 00:19:59.039 --> 00:20:06.680 maybe, in today Tucson, accumulating enough Karma at a conversation with a cashier, 209 00:20:07.230 --> 00:20:11.230 that safe way who believes in Karma, that they're they're they're here. 210 00:20:12.349 --> 00:20:18.789 You Accumulate Enough Karma, you do enough good deeds. Maybe even it's as 211 00:20:18.789 --> 00:20:23.420 simple as the person who wants to create their own meaning in life, if 212 00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:27.420 you've heard that before, create my own meaning in life. All of these 213 00:20:27.579 --> 00:20:33.059 ways are according to the flesh, according to works, trying to relate to 214 00:20:33.339 --> 00:20:41.569 God or trying to relate to yourself as God in order to earn life and 215 00:20:41.769 --> 00:20:48.529 blessing in this world. That's this way that Paul is talking about here, 216 00:20:48.650 --> 00:20:53.359 but he says that this is an empty deceit and allert ring lie. Why 217 00:20:53.440 --> 00:21:00.880 do we find this so seductive, so particularly thinking about this as Christians, 218 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:06.109 I think there's two basic way to, two reasons, I should say, 219 00:21:06.630 --> 00:21:12.710 why we find this alternative way to the Gospel so seductive, and it's because 220 00:21:12.789 --> 00:21:22.740 we find God's way too simple and too boring. It's too simple. The 221 00:21:22.819 --> 00:21:32.339 Christian life is an ordinary daily routine of walking by faith in Jesus, and 222 00:21:32.460 --> 00:21:37.970 then once a week all these ordinary Christians get together and they do simple, 223 00:21:37.849 --> 00:21:42.210 ordinary things. We sit down and we stand up and we sit down and 224 00:21:42.329 --> 00:21:47.960 we stand up again and we sit down some more. We we sing, 225 00:21:48.119 --> 00:21:55.880 we pray, we sit faithfully in our pews and we listen to someone speak 226 00:21:56.400 --> 00:21:57.720 for a long time. If we're just talking about this on the human level, 227 00:21:57.920 --> 00:22:03.150 we listen to someone speak for a long time. Then we pray again. 228 00:22:04.750 --> 00:22:11.190 We may have a little meal together thinking about the Lord's supper. These 229 00:22:11.230 --> 00:22:15.420 are just simple, basic ordinary things and as a result we find them boring. 230 00:22:17.740 --> 00:22:22.299 It's very easy to find them born, particularly again if you have chill 231 00:22:22.460 --> 00:22:27.859 during they think so often. It's boring they start squirming and wiggling around. 232 00:22:29.619 --> 00:22:36.569 I have three little ones under four years old. So yes, we we 233 00:22:36.809 --> 00:22:41.970 want something radical. We want something where we actually get up and do something, 234 00:22:42.049 --> 00:22:48.119 we're exerting ourselves somehow. We we don't want this ordinary daily routine of 235 00:22:48.599 --> 00:22:52.799 faith and repentance, faith and repentance over and over and over again. We 236 00:22:52.000 --> 00:22:57.789 want cross fit for Christians. We want some some way in which we are 237 00:22:59.190 --> 00:23:02.390 exerting ourselves, bringing ourselves closer to God. This, this other way, 238 00:23:02.509 --> 00:23:06.349 is just too slow. It's so boring, it's so simple. There must 239 00:23:06.349 --> 00:23:08.990 be something I can do to speed this up. Actually, one caught of 240 00:23:10.069 --> 00:23:14.019 this is this is what the Collossians were facing, and one commentator says this 241 00:23:14.339 --> 00:23:18.299 about this lie. This the seat that the Colossians were facing, this philosophy. 242 00:23:18.460 --> 00:23:23.660 It urged upon these young Christians the challenge of fullness of spiritual life and 243 00:23:23.819 --> 00:23:30.450 experience. It called upon them to be satisfied with nothing less than a life 244 00:23:30.569 --> 00:23:33.690 free from the stain and tyranny of sin. It pointed the way to a 245 00:23:33.769 --> 00:23:41.170 zeal and devotion that put to shame all complacence or halfheartedness. It spoke of 246 00:23:41.250 --> 00:23:45.720 the need to get out of the shallows and open the heart and the mind 247 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:52.759 to the deep things of God. That sounds great. Sign me up for 248 00:23:52.920 --> 00:24:00.069 that. And it's true we should want to grow an understanding of the deep 249 00:24:00.109 --> 00:24:03.029 things of God. Want to grow and and it mature is Christians. But 250 00:24:03.150 --> 00:24:08.990 here's the thing. This way, trying to do this on our own, 251 00:24:10.220 --> 00:24:17.339 doesn't work, as applies both Christians and Non Christians. And you may ask, 252 00:24:17.380 --> 00:24:18.980 well, how do we know it doesn't work? Bulls, because it's 253 00:24:19.019 --> 00:24:25.329 been done before. We've tried it and it failed back in the garden of 254 00:24:25.369 --> 00:24:32.730 Eden. Think about the garden when God came to Adam and even gave them 255 00:24:33.569 --> 00:24:40.119 one really, when it boils down to it, one simple command. Don't 256 00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:56.950 eat this, don't wander off. That's it. But what happened? Eve 257 00:24:57.150 --> 00:25:02.829 looked at the fruit, and this is what Genesis says. It was good 258 00:25:02.990 --> 00:25:07.819 for food, it was pleasant to look at and it was desirable because it 259 00:25:07.900 --> 00:25:12.299 wouldn't make you wise. and She's hearing the serpent in her ear. To 260 00:25:12.420 --> 00:25:17.900 God really tell you that you couldn't eat this, you're not supposed to eat 261 00:25:18.059 --> 00:25:26.289 this fruit. Chart Your own course, create your own meaning, and the 262 00:25:26.369 --> 00:25:30.329 result will be that you'll become like God. You'll be as wise as God, 263 00:25:30.890 --> 00:25:34.569 your mind will be expanded to include knowledge you couldn't have dreamed of before. 264 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:48.000 All it takes is one little bite, so simple, and yet that's 265 00:25:48.119 --> 00:25:52.269 where it not just affected Adam and Eve, but the whole human race, 266 00:25:52.549 --> 00:25:59.910 plunging us into sin. We've tried this before and no matter how appealing this 267 00:26:00.150 --> 00:26:07.339 path may seem, we can't get to God that way. Son. That 268 00:26:07.779 --> 00:26:10.180 opens up the question. If this is what we're facing, if this is 269 00:26:10.220 --> 00:26:14.339 the temptation that Paul is addressing here, well, what's the solution to it? 270 00:26:14.420 --> 00:26:18.609 Where do we find life? And that's what he gets to in the 271 00:26:18.690 --> 00:26:22.490 next couple verses. Moving on to our third point here, the superiority of 272 00:26:22.569 --> 00:26:26.769 Christ. Look with me again at versus nine and ten, for in him 273 00:26:27.329 --> 00:26:33.119 the whole fullness of Deity dwells bodily, and you've been filled in him, 274 00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:37.400 who is ahead of all rule and authority. So when we feel like Christianity 275 00:26:37.480 --> 00:26:44.599 is too simple or too boring, it's because we've forgotten something. We forgotten 276 00:26:44.680 --> 00:26:51.390 that this teaching we received is fundamentally about Jesus. It's a little bit cliche 277 00:26:52.470 --> 00:26:57.029 and it's often misapplied to clean our reform circles with people often say it of 278 00:26:57.230 --> 00:27:03.859 us, that we're all about the head knowledge, and that to a degree 279 00:27:03.980 --> 00:27:06.700 can be true. But here's the thing. Is that this head knowledge, 280 00:27:07.099 --> 00:27:11.859 it I shouldn't say head knowledge, this that the truths of Christianity, the 281 00:27:11.019 --> 00:27:17.809 truths of the Bible, that the teaching of the Gospel isn't just head knowledge. 282 00:27:18.970 --> 00:27:23.690 It really and vitally connects us to Christ. We are we have this 283 00:27:25.049 --> 00:27:33.720 deep, true union with Jesus that's created in us by the Holy Spirit. 284 00:27:33.240 --> 00:27:41.119 We have this genuine eternal life through this relationship with Jesus Christ. The fullness 285 00:27:41.200 --> 00:27:45.269 of Deity dwells bodily in Christ. Just think about that for a moment. 286 00:27:47.549 --> 00:27:53.670 Fullness of Deity dwells bodily in Christ. The Eternal Son of God veiled his 287 00:27:53.829 --> 00:28:00.460 glory, took on Human Flesh, a human nature, became like us and 288 00:28:00.539 --> 00:28:10.819 dwelt among us. Eternal Son of God became fully and truly man, but 289 00:28:11.019 --> 00:28:22.089 he didn't just become at one point man. Get this. Jesus still is 290 00:28:22.170 --> 00:28:30.039 fully human even now and still has a body, a human body, says. 291 00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:37.000 A fullness of God didn't dwell in the past, dwelt bodily. The 292 00:28:37.160 --> 00:28:44.069 fullness of Deity dwells bodily. It's still ongoing. When Jesus ascended back into 293 00:28:44.190 --> 00:28:48.950 heaven, he didn't shed his human body. Christ still has that human body 294 00:28:48.109 --> 00:28:52.069 and that body right now is sitting on the right hand of God, the 295 00:28:52.190 --> 00:28:59.460 Father, The majesty on high. But Christ not only became like us and 296 00:28:59.779 --> 00:29:07.900 remains like us, he still dwells with us and in us by his Holy 297 00:29:07.940 --> 00:29:11.369 Spirit. Because if you received Christ by faith, Paul says, you are 298 00:29:11.690 --> 00:29:19.690 filled with the fullness of Christ. Right now, he, who is the 299 00:29:19.849 --> 00:29:29.559 fullness of God, fully dwells in us by his spirit. The Apostle Peter 300 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:33.920 Talks about this in Second Peter, Chapter One, verse four, saying that 301 00:29:33.000 --> 00:29:37.440 we have been made partakers in the divine nature, and that doesn't mean that 302 00:29:37.559 --> 00:29:41.789 we become God. It's not what you're saying, but what he means is 303 00:29:41.950 --> 00:29:45.710 that there is this true, vibrant, Real Union with Christ, such that 304 00:29:45.950 --> 00:29:52.420 we are filled with his life. We have the life of Christ flowing through 305 00:29:52.539 --> 00:30:00.220 our veins. We we have been adopted into the family of God, and 306 00:30:02.140 --> 00:30:07.690 Christ now dwells in us by faith, as Paul talks about this, in 307 00:30:07.769 --> 00:30:11.250 glacians too, as no longer I who live, but Christ, who lives 308 00:30:11.690 --> 00:30:17.410 in me and the life I now live in, the body, I live 309 00:30:17.529 --> 00:30:21.960 by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, 310 00:30:22.359 --> 00:30:26.160 and that means that every benefit and every blessing that Christ earn for us 311 00:30:26.200 --> 00:30:30.839 through his perfect obedience to the law of God and his death on the cross 312 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:40.269 is ours, because we are in him. That's what we have in Jesus. 313 00:30:40.349 --> 00:30:44.630 And what's most amazing, what makes this even more amazing, is a 314 00:30:44.710 --> 00:30:48.190 fact that Paul then highlights. This a fact that Christ rules and reigns over 315 00:30:48.390 --> 00:30:55.180 all things, the ruler of the cosmos, the one who created all things, 316 00:30:55.259 --> 00:31:00.259 the king of kings and Lord of Lords, has taken up residence in 317 00:31:00.380 --> 00:31:07.329 your soul by the power of his spirit. And what more could we ask 318 00:31:07.450 --> 00:31:12.250 for? What more could we possibly need? Paul is highlighting the fact that 319 00:31:12.329 --> 00:31:18.079 we don't need anything else. It's all in Jesus and we have received him. 320 00:31:18.880 --> 00:31:23.640 We don't need anything that. We don't need this shuckster religion, this 321 00:31:23.720 --> 00:31:32.440 shuckster philosophy, we don't need it. We have Christ in Christ is enough, 322 00:31:33.190 --> 00:31:41.990 more than enough. This is how the Gospel works. Christianity isn't about 323 00:31:41.990 --> 00:31:48.619 US trying to climb up to God. It's the the historical reality that God, 324 00:31:49.099 --> 00:31:55.980 in time and space, came down to us to give us access into 325 00:31:56.099 --> 00:32:00.460 his presence so we might have a real, living relationship with the God who 326 00:32:00.539 --> 00:32:06.609 made us and who has redeemed us. Through Jesus, he has done what 327 00:32:06.730 --> 00:32:10.970 we couldn't do and could never do. And so, friends, when that 328 00:32:12.130 --> 00:32:20.240 temptation comes to add something to Jesus, go to him in prayer, Hensher 329 00:32:20.440 --> 00:32:23.640 into the Throne Room of the king of Kings, knowing that he bids you 330 00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:30.910 come and enter and sing to him along with the hymn writer. Prone to 331 00:32:31.150 --> 00:32:37.789 wander Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. 332 00:32:38.910 --> 00:32:45.259 Here's my heart, take and seal it. Seal it for THY courts. 333 00:32:45.299 --> 00:32:47.579 Above let's pray